SANITY

Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Paul here is basically telling people to be humble or better put, sane. To not think more of themselves than they ought. To think more of yourself than you actually are is insanity. It is the opposite of thinking sanely. To be sober minded as opposed to crazy, is to humbly see yourself as you are.

Insane people can have grandiose delusions about themselves. They may think they’re kings, presidents, doctors, lawyers, beauty queens, war heroes, super boxers/street fighters, agile or all of the above. They begin with an idea, that morphs into a lie, and after telling that lie long enough, they become ill and actually believe their own lie.

This form of insanity, although more subtle, creates problems in the church and ministries as well. Paul addressed it 2,000 years ago. It was a problem then and It’s a problem now. People think they have more discernment or knowledge than the pastor, and they start to bad mouth him and malign him. It’s so destructive. I see it in every church. There’s always that person who lacks a sane perception about their own spiritual worth. Lack of humility. They’re not realistic. They heard or thought something. It stuck in their craw. It grew and festered. And now it’s a huge problem, like a festerring shenker sore on the tip of your nose. Satan has a field day with people not thinking sanely, or as Paul says, soberly.

2 Thess 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Sanity literally means ‘no mental illness’. Google it! That’s way too simplistic of a definition. No one is sane by that definition. The ′Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders′ says that there are arond 300 Mental Health Conditions. We all have stuff we’re dealing with to different degrees. It′s the result of disobedience, the consecuence of sin of a fallen world.

Deuteronomy 28.28 The Lord shall smite thee with madness.

A highly successful lady that I knew a long time ago told me recently that she was still seeing a therapist over how I treated her ages ago. It was long before I got married. Absolutely nothing happened between us. It’s only because she perceived that I ignored her because I didn’t talk to her enough, I guess. She took it personally. I was like ‘really?? I’m sorry, but get over it already!!’

Obsessive compulsive people, control freaks, scaredy cats, gossips, liars, porn addicts, alcoholics, gossips, glutons and the sexually promiscuous are all mentally ill to one degree or other (technically speaking). Everyone seems to be ok with it. They even laugh about it sometimes. Insane people, that everyone can see are crazy, are the new lepers. People avoid them like the plague. But people not overtly nuts fit right in.

Army buddies (including myself) have stress, trauma, panic attacks and although it’s technically classified as mental illness, we’re sane, functional and lucid. No one notices. People are paranoid. I’m paranoid myself sometimes as well. It can be funny. Little old nosey opinionated ladies absolutely terrify me. But I can function when I am around them.

I have a friend who suffers a real mental illness. Insane. I never knew it. He’s a great missionary but some clown ‘prophetcally’ told him to throw away his mental illness medicine and now everyone knows he has mental problems. I know God can heal mental illness. I’ve seen God’s Word transform lives. Ask me about a lady named Jenny. A flat out healing miracle. But to tell someone to throw away the medicine is a little premature as well as prideful (pride is insanity, not sobriety).

Sanity is a vague word though. I notice that people are always trying to come up with a new definition for sanity. A great example is where PureHeart operates. The conditions of the children that we deal with daily would make anyone question their sanity. Paranoia isn’t a sickness in the slums, it’s a self survival instinct. Not being able to sleep until every window and door is locked tight and double checked isn’t obsessive compulsiveness, it’s just a general life saving practice. If you or I had to deal with what these kids have to handle continuously, we’d be paranoid and obsessively compulsive too, and no one would call us crazy. An insane (not sane or sober) person in the slums would not be suspicious of strangers and sleep with the doors and windows wide open. No sane person would do that.

Lots of danger here in the slums.

The most dangerous job in the world is to be an at-risk child in the 3rd world. It’s a combat zone. Here, normally happy kids change overnight. Kids that are talkative and happy one day, sometimes suddenly go 5 years without saying a word. Something horrible happened. They spend years processing everything and then poof!! They’re talking and laughing again. Not insane, they’re sane, but just getting over some stuff in their own way.

I love Paul’s definition of sanity. Sanity is thinking soberly. A sober person is not a drunk. Arguing with a drunk and arguing with a nut is almost the same. We deal with a lot of teenagers in PureHeart. A young girl we deal with is threatening suicide right now because some knucklehead had dumped her. She’s not thinking sanely, or soberly. She’s drunk (temporarily insane?) with grief. She wants to die. Her thirteen year old mind is not well (for this week anyway). People more often than not let other people dictate to them their mental health (just like my missionary friend). She has a choice to move on, or not. We all do.

After years of pastoral counseling, the perception of being ignored, basically because lack of comminication, is the top reason for my counseling sessions. This loneliness or isolation seems to be what drives more people over the edge, or at least out of fellowship with the Lord than anything else. Age makes no difference. The Bible says thou shalt not kill. Ignoring people is murder from my point of view. After seeing the devastating effects repeatedly on people after being ignored by a loved one or someone respected, I’m convinced that it is in fact ′bumping someone inconenient off′.

One of the main culprits of destroyed relationships and low self esteem (leading to mental illness) is lack of, or negative communication. I talk to 7 year olds messed up over loosing a best friend, 70 year olds loosing their sanity over their 50 year old ‘children’ not calling or texting. 60 year old wives crushed to the point of giving up on life because their ex-husbands don’t talk to them. It goes on and on.

Mental health rule 101.

Don’t let others dictate your mental health to you! They could care less about you! Trust God, not man.

If someone doesn’t answer you when you greet them face to face, it’s not your problem. Try to make peace with them. If that doesn’t work (some peope just love to be mad), greet someone else. If someone you love or respect is too ‘slammed’, busy or popular to ever return your many attempts to call, text or email with anything more than a cryptic word or two, leave them alone. They don’t like you, or think they are better than you. It’s not rocket science. Very low ROI on your tim. Unless, of course, the Lord encourages to win them for Jesus. They just might be ignoring you because the Spirit in you annoys the demons in them.

People make time for those people that they actually like. If you get snubbed, or not invited to something, that’s great!! A lot better than wasting time, effort and money to be at someplace where you’re intentionally made to feel unwelcome.

It doesn’t matter who they are. Spouse, family member, kids, parents, friends, co-workers. Don’t force yourself on anyone. Best revenge is to live well and be happy. Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord. Leave it in His capable hands.

Tell people who slight you that you’re sorry if you have done anything that offended them. If they forgive you, great! Sometimes you just need to ask them if there’s a ‘reset button’ for your relationship that you two could press. Try to be a peacemaker, always, if possible. If not, great! Go your happy way….

If it’s a spouse, try to make it work. Go to counseling. But if they insist on leaving, they may not even be saved. Let them go. If they want to stay, but not talk to you, let them. It may be hard but the Bible says to let them stay if they want. They might end up getting saved by seeing your God given grace. But it’s not your duty to force anyone to stay. Run away from a marriage only if you or your kids are in danger. But either way, just carry on in a way that is pleasing to God. Forgetting the things behind you as Paul would say in Acts 20:24. Even if it hurts, don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s all small stuff by the way.

No one is worth your mental health. You can’t do anything about who likes you or not anyway. People change whether or not you want them to. You also don’t need to justify yourself or even find out why. If you’ve wronged them ask for forgiveness. Change if you can. But stop reaching out to people who don’t want to talk to you or refuse to forgive you. (unless you’re a salesman and it’s your job haha). It’s totally ok if some people don’t like you, or stop loving you! There are plenty who do.

Be in the moment. Love the one you’re with!! God’s never mad at you, He’s mad about you!!! There’s plenty of people who love and cherish you and want to talk to you. Invest your precious time in those who actually want to communicate with and to be with you.

Don’t beg anyone, maintain your nobility. If they’ve cut you off, leave it at that. Even if it’s your fault. Ask for forgiveness, try to make peace and then move on. Usually it’s not all your fault though. They’re getting help from others poisoning them against you, or by their own deceitful imagination (jealousy, weirdness, mental illness) whatever, just stay away from them. Don’t let them make you feel bad, no one is worth it. Jesus loves you. His true followers love you. The people He has put in your path love you.

Love those people who hurt, slighted and ignored you. Pray for them, and then forget all about them. Knock the dust off of your sandals. Time is short, Jesus is coming.

Luke 6.27?“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,?28?bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.?

THEN LOOK FOR WHO’S NEXT IN LINE TO MEET AND TO LOVE!

You have yet to meet your favorite person on the planet!

I Love you! God’s got this!

Want GOOD mental health?

Follow the 2024 proclamation.

Forget the things behind you … Acts 20:24

And then think on these following things

PHILIPPIANS 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things…….. and the God of peace will be with you

Life and death are in your tongue. Speak lucidity and sanely IN THIS WAY. ‘I will never loose my mind’. ‘i will always be sane’. People who walk around saying ‘I am going crazy’, ‘he’s making me nuts’ or ‘I’m loosing my mind’ usually do loose their minds sooner or later.

Instead, Speak Complete Sanity to yourself, never speak against your mental sanity.

You become what you perceive!

Love in Christ

Dean Peters

www.pureheartchildrensfund.org

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